The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on track to retain power in Tripura on Thursday, as the party passed the halfway point in the latest trends amid the ongoing vote counting. According to the most recent data shared by the Election Commission at 11.30 a.m., the BJP led in 31 seats, while the CPIM-Congress alliance led in 16. (11& 5 seats respectively).
In 11 seats, the Tipra Motha Party leads. Chief Minister Manik Saha was leading Congress candidate Asish Kumar Saha by 1,321 votes in the Town Bardowali constituency. Manik Saha had 16,446 votes as of 11.30 a.m., with a 50.15 percent vote share. Rajib Bhattacharjee, the state BJP chief, was trailing Congress candidate Gopal Chandra Roy.
According to the most recent data, Bhattacharjee received 44.81 percent of the vote, while Roy received 50.28 percent. According to exit poll projections, the BJP, which made history by wresting the state from the Left in 2018, was ahead of its opponents.
To ensure a smooth counting process, the Commission made elaborate security arrangements. A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place, with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Tripura State Rifle (TRS), and Tripura Police being deployed. There are adequate security arrangements in place, in addition to round-the-clock patrolling by 30 vehicles manned by CRPF officers.
“Counting of votes will take place at 21 counting centers. The EC has deployed 60 election observers. All counting staff has been trained. Security arrangements and CCTV coverage have been arranged outside and inside counting centers,” Kiran Gitte, Tripura’s Chief Electoral Officer said earlier.
Gitte stated that Section 144 has been imposed in certain areas due to concerns about law and order. The Northeast state saw a triangular contest as the Congress and CPIM, longtime rivals, formed a pre-poll alliance to defeat the ruling BJP.
While the BJP seeks to retain power through an alliance with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the Tipra Motha, which is seen as a kingmaker in the event of a hung assembly, the Tipra Motha emerged as an influential regional party floated by royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma in 2021.
The majority mark in the 60-member Tripura assembly is 30, and exit polls predicted a clear advantage for the BJP over its rivals in the state. The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura prior to 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with the IPFT, deposing the Left Front, which had ruled the border state for 35 years since 1978.
The BJP ran in 55 seats, while its ally, IPFT, ran in six. However, both allies ran candidates in the Gomati district’s Ampinagar constituency. The Left ran for 47 seats, while Congress ran for 13. The CPM ran for 43 of the 47 available seats, while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI), and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) each ran for one.
The BJP won 36 assembly seats and 43.59 percent of the vote in the 2018 election. With 42.22 percent of the vote, the CPI (M) won 16 seats. The IPFT received eight seats, but Congress was unable to open its account. The CPI-M-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a brief period when the Congress was in power between 1988 and 1993, but now both parties have joined forces to depose the BJP.
